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NCAAB Picks

NCAA Basketball Picks: Pac -12 Betting Pack

Saturday's college basketball betting card includes a couple of Pac-12 affairs as Washington visits Washington State and Cal is in Los Angeles to meet with the USC Trojans.

Conference slates pick up in earnest this weekend, and all
signs point to the only mystery in the Pac-12 being the race for second behind
the Arizona Wildcats.

Arizona
is ranked No. 3 in the country, the only Pac-12 squad to sit in the top 25 of
either poll. The Wildcats remain one of
just four unbeaten teams on the college hoops landscape. They are lucky to be
in that quartet after a scare in their conference opener on Thursday against
Colorado, who took Sean Miller's crew to overtime before Arizona eventually
pulled it out.

UCLA figures to be the best bet to challenge the Wildcats,
followed by Oregon. Arizona
State is off to a surprisingly good
start to the season, and Colorado
has proven it won't be a pushover.

Washington and Washington State
break the seals on their Pac-12 schedules with a clash in Pullman for the 275th meeting on the hardwood
between the rivals on the hardwood.
Opening numbers on the SBR odds screen listed the Cougars as 4 point
home favorites with 129 for totals bettors to consider.

This series has belonged to the visiting Huskies over the
years with a 174-100 edge, including 7-2 the past nine meetings. Washington
has emerged victorious in the last three battles after sweeping and covering
the home-&-home contests last year.

But it's Wazzu that comes in on a better run at 7-2 its last
nine, and beating the spread in all seven lined affairs during the stretch that
started after getting
walloped by Kansas in the CBE Classic back in November. Ken Bone's bunch has since lost two games by
a total of three points, including dropping one at the buzzer to No. 10
Gonzaga.

Defense is the Cougars' strength, and it will have to remain
the calling card without much offense behind Brock Motum (19.7 ppg) and DeVonte
Lacy (11.8 ppg). Washington State
is keeping the other guys off the scoreboard to the tune of just 55.2 PPG, 12th
in the country, and 20th in limiting teams to a 37.2% shooting mark.

Washington comes to Pullman off a loss at
UConn last Saturday that snapped a 4-game win streak. The Huskies failed to cover for the second
straight game, and are 6-4 their last 10 straight up (3-6 ATS). They have a little more offensive firepower
than the Cougars with four players in double figures, led by CJ Wilcox's 18.5
scoring average.

The key battle will be inside between Motum and Washington's Aziz
N'Diaye, and Motum has the edge since he should be able to draw N'Diaye out at
times to open up space for the Wazzu guards to penetrate.

[gameodds]14/136536/19-169-999996-198/us[/gameodds]

Cal in LA to Take on
Trojans

The final game on Saturday's schedule that will be played in
the Lower 48 is California
at USC in the second conference game for both schools. Southern Cal
is favored by a point and the overnight total was 128.

The Trojans have been a real enigma in the early going
thanks to a very inconsistent offense.
Southern Cal had a 4-game stretch in November without sinking 40% of
field goal tries, but has also been able to get hot on a few other occasions
when you least expect it. Like Thursday
night in the Pac-12 opener against Stanford. Three-point underdogs at home, the Trojans
sank nearly 51% from the field to rally from a 9-point halftime deficit for the
71-69 dubya.

California has fallen on tough times after opening the
campaign 6-0. The Golden Bears have dropped five of seven since then and failed
to cover any of the six lined games during that span. Cal
is likely to be without Richard Solomon for this game with the big 6-10 forward
questionable due to a concussion. The
Bears are also going to be a little thin off the bench out on the perimeter as
Brandon Smith (concussion) is expected to miss his third straight game.